Hi,

I'm going to be in DC from around midday this coming Sunday Oct 31st, till Wednesday morning Nov 3. Since my time is limited, what are the must see things?

thanks
goodo

SO much to see in DC. Looks like you'll have 2.5 days correct? Hmmmm. You can cram quite a bit in there if you are o.k. with running around non stop.

If ya like aircraft you can spend a couple days at the Air and Space Museum and the new annex thats located near Dulles. Or you can quickly just check out all the major Smithsonian Museums along The Mall (the long strip of grass that runs from the Capital to the Lincoln Memorial fyi)

The White House is neat to see from the outside, not much inside. I prefer the Capital building over the W.H.

If you want to see the memorials, do the Washington Monument, then stroll over to the Vietnam Vets and Korean War memorials, then head to the Lincoln, then Jefferson and end up at the FDR (FDR memorial is pretty cool at night actually).

The National Archives is cool because it has our Declaration of Independence in there.

Use the Metro, it's an awesome subway system.

You'll be here for our election too. History in the making (barring any Florida fiascos again )

Enjoy your stay!

You might expect DC to be a big party on election night. But unless things have changed since I was there on election night 1984, the place is a relative ghost town. All the politicos and their staffs are back in their home states to campaign in local elections (often their own). Or it may have just been that the town was depressed by the fact that aside from DC and Minnesota (Mondale's home state), every state was voting for Reagan that night.

In DC there's also a new spy museum that's quite interesting, and the Holocaust museum, I'm told, is very moving. A brand new museum about native Americans has just opened between the Hirschhorn Museum and the Capitol.

It's true. While there are some election night activities (you might try a politically oriented bar like the Hawk & Dove on Capitol Hill or Dr. Dremo's across the Potomac in Arlington), it's the inaugurations that are the big political party occasions in this town.

Candidates themselves tend not to be in Washington on election night -- I don't know and haven't looked into it, but I'd expect that President Bush will be in Texas and Senator Kerry will be in Boston.

I'll second the new National Museum of the American Indian as well worth visiting, and the folks at the Smithsonian are also planning to open the space technology hall of the Air & Space Museum's Dulles annex Nov. 1st, including the chance to get up close to the space shuttle prototype Enterprise.

Don't forget the new WWII Memorial.

If you're the type of person who can go non-stop all day you could pack a lot in. The Smithsonian's are open to 5 or 5:30pm and most of the memorials are open till midnight, so if you really want to pack it in do the museums during the day and see the memorials at night.

IMHO the order I'd rank places to visit:
Museums:
American History (Transportation exibit on the lower floor)
Natural History (Hope Diamond)
Air and Space Museum
Holocaust museum
Spy Museum

Memorials:
Washington (get a free ticket on-line at NPS.gov if you want to go up)
Lincoln
Jefferson
WWII
FDR (as stated before, very cool at night)

Other items of note:
As mentioned use Metro, DC is full of one-way streets and little parking
The National Archives (If you go see the new Nicholas Cage movie "National Treasure" you'll feel in-the-know!)
Arlington Cemetery - Metro has a stop
Old Europe for dinner up in Georgetown - Idine miles too!
The national arboretum near the capitol if that's something that would interest you
The West building of the national gallery of art (if you really just want the good stuff, go to the second floor to the European Masters section. Skip the entire East building unless you really like modern art )
If you really want to tour of the Capitol (I'd pass if you only have 2.5 days) call your Congressman to arrange a personal tour by one of his/her aids.

When you need a break from all the walking you'll be doing, find a bench on the mall and just sit and watch. Everyone from Senators, college students, foreign tourists and homeless people can be seen.

Nice German restaurant; very friendly place and large portions. Ate here dozens of times as I lived just a few blocks away. It's in Glover Park at 2434 Wisconsin Ave NW. The ox tail soup and schnitzels are great. Enjoy!

Thanks for all the info, but unfortunately i've had a change of plans, and am flying JFK-IAD-ORD-SFO-SYD-MEL straight thru ;(

goodo

Well, I'M going on Veterans Day weekend and having read this thread will now definitely check out Old Europe!

The only thing I can add to this good advice in this thread is to try to find a copy of the City Paper. It's a free tabloid and is rather thick. If you're not offended by 4-letter words in print and ads for adult video stores (not the majority of the paper by any means, but they are pretty obvious), there is a section that lists literally EVERYTHING going on in DC. There is also a good restaurant section and evening entertainment section. You can find them at Metro stations and throughout the city. They are located in gray-colored newspaper machines located right along with the "pay" newspapers.

You also might try the on-line Washington Post.

Have fun! ^

Old Europe is just down the street from the National Cathedral and not far from the National Zoo if you want to plan your day around visit some of the sites in Northern Georgetown.

Gee, now it's called Northern Georgetown? When we lived there it was Glover Park. If it had been Northern Georgetown, we could have got a lot more money for our house.

... not that there are NO parties at all, of course. Though I plan to skip them all this year, I can tell you where several of the official (party-sponsored) election night results-viewing parties are... IF you're a Republican, that is. Sorry, Dems, but I don't know where your people will be.

For non-political stuff, you've been given lots of good ideas. A critical thing to what you will or will NOT be able to do depends on your transportation options and whether you'll be able to drive yourself around.